Karate-Do: My Way of Life

Karate-Do: My Way of Life

by Gichin Funakoshi
Karate-Do: My Way of Life

Karate-Do: My Way of Life

by Gichin Funakoshi

Paperback(Reprint)

$9.95 
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Overview

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK, THE LIFE STORY OF THE FATHER OF MODERN KARATE-DO.

Linking the time when karate was a strictly Okinawan art of self-defense shrouded in the deepest secrecy and the present day, when it has become a martial art practiced throughout the world, is Gichin Funakoshi, the "Father of Karate-do."

Out of modesty, he was reluctant to write this autobiography and did not do so until he was nearly ninety years of age. Trained in the Confucian classics, he was a schoolteacher early in life, but after decades of study under the foremost masters, he gave up his livelihood to devote the rest of his life to the propagation of the Way of Karate. Under his guidance, techniques and nomenclature were refined and modernized, the spiritual essence was brought to the fore, and karate evolved into a true martial art.

Various forms of empty-hand techniques have been practiced in Okinawa for centuries, but due to the lack of historical records, fancy often masquerades as fact. In telling of his own famous teachers--and not only of their mastery of technique but of the way they acted in critical situations--the author reveals what true karate is. The stories he tells about himself are no less instructive: his determination to continue the art, after having started it to improve his health; his perseverance in the face of difficulties, even of poverty; his strict observance of the way of life of the samurai; and the spirit of self-reliance that he carried into an old age kept healthy by his practice of Karate-do.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781568364988
Publisher: Kodansha USA
Publication date: 02/01/2013
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 144
Sales rank: 440,474
Product dimensions: 4.30(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

GICHIN FUNAKOSHI is world famous as one of Karate's great masters. Born in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, in 1868, he studied Karate-do from childhood and organized the first public demonstrations.


He was trained in the Confucian classics and was a schoolteacher early in life. After training for decades under the foremost masters in Okinawa he was elected president of the Okinawa Association for the Spirit of Martial Arts.


He was chosen to demonstrate Karate at the First National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo in 1922, which led to the introduction of the ancient martial art to the rest of Japan and subsequently to the rest of the world. Among his writings are Karate-do Nyumon: The Master Introductory Text, Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text, and Karate Jutsu: The Original Teachings of Gichin Funakoshi.


Master Gichin Funakoshi died in April 1957.

Table of Contents

Forewordvii
Prefacexiii
Entering the Way1
No Weapons21
Training for Life45
Recognition69
One Life87
Important Points105
The Past, the Future116
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